


Caged

by Gayest_Disney_King_Ever



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crystal Gems, Gem War, Gender Neutral! Reader - Freeform, Kidnapping, Not A Feel Good Story, Reader-Insert, Struggle, pink diamond's zoo, quartztet, this started as a one shot and escalated beyond my control, x Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:17:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9833039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayest_Disney_King_Ever/pseuds/Gayest_Disney_King_Ever
Summary: Set in a modern Gem War; Pink Diamond has tasked Jasper with collecting humans





	1. Stage 1

**Author's Note:**

> I changed the Gem War to happening in a more modern time since if I tried researching human life in 3000 BC I would get too engrossed in this for a one-shot*. And I’m a lazy junior trying to pass my classes. Keep in mind that Amethyst hasn’t emerged yet, Greg and Rose have not met either, and thus Steven hasn’t been born. Also, this isn’t a feel good one-shot* about how much you love Jasper, it’s more about the complicated relationship you have with her.
> 
> *Halfway through writing this I realized it wasn't going to be a one shot. Things escalated beyond my control so at this point in time, this will be two chapters with an epilogue. If I ever get through book 1 of my Hamilton series, I may come back with a series following the Quartztet since I really do love them all, but for now this is a stand-alone work.

It almost felt like a lifetime ago you were sitting around a table with your family, eating dinner and laughing when someone tripped and fell trying to bring the potatoes to the table. That was only three months ago though. The night before a planet loosely referred to as the “ _Homeworld_ ”, which was ruled by the Diamond Authority, declared war on a group of gems presently on earth that called themselves the Crystal Gems.

How on earth had you gotten yourself dragged into this? A pistol in one hand and a rapier in another as you charged into battle with Crazy Lace on your left wielding an axe as big as your entire body, and snowflake on your right with her hands full of daggers. Biggs stayed close and shadowed you since you were still new to fighting and she didn’t want you getting hurt.

You shot and destroyed a few gem’s physical forms as they poofed into a cloud of smoke and their gems fell to the ground. You saw one Crystal Gem trample over a fallen Homeworld Gem and you felt like you might get sick at the sound of shattering life. Biggs practically shoved you forward to keep you moving away from the line of enemy fire. You ran as fast as you could to protect your short, fragile human life from the clutches of the Homeworld Gems.

Biggs kept you in line as the mother figure of your small group. The entire group of Biggs, Snowflake, and Crazy Lace held looks of shock when Rose Quartz’s pearl came to fetch your group one day. You had set up camp for the night and most organic life in the camp ate food to fuel for tomorrow's movement.

“Rose Quartz,” your allies bowed and addressed her formally with  bow. You followed behind them, slightly shy since you’d yet to even see the gem you were fighting under. She was just as beautiful as you’d heard if not more so.

“No need to bow,” she announced with a charming laugh. Her pearl turned her head around to watch your group as if daring you all to lift your gaze. Defiantly, you lift your head and look at the pearl with a smirk before turning your gaze back to Rose Quartz. She smiled kindly at you. “Your section has done very much for us in this war. I would like to welcome you to my top ranks if you’re willing to join.”

Everyone looked towards Biggs who seemed lost in thought. Her gem practically glowed as she slowly nodded. A wide grin spread across everyone’s face and you practically jumped into Biggs’s arms in excitement.

“Woah, woah, [Y/N],” Biggs chided in a friendly tone.

Crazy Lace lifted a spindly arm to ruffle your hair. “Aw, c’mon. Let ‘em celebrate a little. We all earned this together.”

Biggs couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her face. “Fine, fine,” Biggs finally said, spinning you around in her own excitement.

“Now, if you’ll follow me,” Pearl announced, motioning for everyone to follow. You moved to do as instructed when Rose caught your arm. “You can’t go with them, I’m afraid,” she told you with a sad smile. “Gems only in the temple.”

Your jaw hung down. “You’re...you’re splitting us up?”

Snowflake turned when she realized you weren’t with them and rushed to your side. “We’re not leaving [Y/N] behind. As far as we care, they’re an honorary quartz!”

Crazy Lace and Biggs nodded along. “You can’t split us up, we’re the Quartztet.” Biggs announced, wrapping a protective arm around you.

Rose looked off to the side in thought. “It’s true. If you don’t do something, they’ll return to the front lines and be killed immediately,” a voice came and was soon followed by a very tall gem-...gems? She had a gem on each hand- walked out and stood beside Rose who looked conflicted.

“One of you may allow the human in your room then, I suppose.” She finally gave in, holding her hands in the air in surrender.

“I’m Garnet, by the way,” the two-gemmed gem introduced herself with a small smile. You looked around to see if anyone else knew of her, but you’d never heard of any garnet gems before. She noticed the confusion and laughed. “I’m a fusion between two gems. A ruby and a sapphire.”

“I thought only gems of the same type could fuse,” you stated dumbly. The only time you’d ever witnessed a fusion before was when Biggs fused with another jasper.

“We’re the first of our kind,” Garnet explained with a sense of pride.

You couldn’t help but match her smile with one of your own. “How awesome. I hope things work out with you two.”

“Oh, it will,” she lowered her glasses to reveal three eyes to your surprise. The top eye winked at you, drawing out a small laugh. You hoped to become good friends with this strange fusion.

“Oh, I want [Y/N] to stay with me,” Snowflake whined, earning a laugh from you.

“No way, I get ‘em!” Crazy Lace announced, putting her arm over your shoulder.

“Come on, gems, [Y/N] will be staying with me,” Biggs said with finality in her voice. It was hard to question a gem with such a commanding personality. You shot a sorry smile to the others, but didn’t feel too bad since you loved Biggs like an older sister.

Pearl coughed to get everyone’s attention and it was only then that you realized you’d been lead to a warp pad. Everyone squeezed onto the platform and you held onto Biggs’s arm as the dizzying sensation of teleportation came over you. It wasn’t but a moment until you were able to open your eyes and look around.

You caught the scent of saltwater and smiled as you turned to see the wide expanse of the ocean before you. All you wanted was to rip your shoes off and go plant them in the sand, maybe go and swim to try and forget about the war and pretend everything was alright again. But you couldn’t do that right now. You smiled sadly at the ocean that seemed to wave for you to join it and turned around to where the gems were headed. A giant temple stood in front of you, carved into the hillside. An entrance lead you to a door with several gems positioned at the top.

“Your rooms will be linked to your gems, all you need to do is expose your gem to the sensor here to open the door. The human may not be in a room alone since the room only exists when a gem is present. Understood?” Pearl explained curtly.

The gems around you nodded, but you couldn’t help but ask, “What happens if I’m in the room alone?”

“Well if the room ceases to exist with you inside of it, you will also disappear,” she said bluntly. She obviously didn’t care for your wellbeing.

You swallowed hard and clung to Biggs’s arm like a frightened child.

Snowflake went first, lifting her pale white hair to reveal her gem over her eye. When the gem above the door glowed and the room opened, she covered it again and entered her room with a wave. “I’m going to explore. See you guys later. Maybe I can even give [Y/N] a tour after I’m finished.” She blew you a kiss and disappeared into the mysterious temple.

Crazy Lace boldly stepped forward next, revealing the gem placed directly on top of her head to the sensor so that the door opened. “You’re always welcome in my room too, [Y/N], so don’t be shy!” She disappeared with a wave leaving you, Biggs, and Pearl.

“Please remember to take precautions with the human,” Pearl reminded one last time before returning to the warp pad. “If you need Rose, you may come find me at the base. Good day.”

Just like that, you and Biggs were alone.

“I’m kinda scared,” you admitted with a small voice, staring at the gem that resembled Biggs’s Jasper gem.

“I’ll protect you and you know that,” she told you comfortingly with a pat on the back. “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Biggs showed her gem in the center of her chest to the scanner and watched her own door open into the room you both would be sharing.

 

Jasper, not just any jasper, but The Jasper, the most perfect one ever made in that lousy kindergarten stood poised over a map of the Earth. She was instructed to retrieve humans for her amazingly powerful and wondrously beautiful Pink Diamond’s zoo. These humans needed to be strong though. Strong enough to have children and preserve humanity. Of course she retrieved mostly the humans that fought with Rose Quartz’s army. They were a resilient bunch.

Intelligence had recently located Rose’s base and Jasper put her usual job of collecting humans to the side as she began strategizing an attack on the base that could end the war. Then she could take as many humans as she wanted and Pink Diamond would be happy and promote Jasper. Jasper would then be able to dedicate her life solely to doing whatever Pink Diamond needed. What a fulfilling existence she dreamt of.

 

Several months had passed since you joined the top ranks and you’d grown close with many gems, especially Rose. At first she was quite intimidating, almost like a god walking the earth. As time passed, you began seeing an almost human side of her. Her love of nature, her emotions, how she cried and restored cracked gems with her tears. Her anger could be destructive, but at least you knew she wasn’t entirely perfect. Seeing flaws brought you to see her less like a god and more as a leader that you could relate to and you loved that. She told you stories of Homeworld and what it was like. About the Diamonds. About when and why she chose to rebel. It was all so amazing and so personal. You loved that she trusted you so.

Garnet loved you just as much. One night, she’d practically dragged you out of Biggs’s room and to the beach because she wanted you to meet Ruby and Sapphire so badly. You loved them both apart just as much as when they were together as Garnet. Watching them interact together and fuse together brought a whole new meaning of being a gem to you. You loved it and you loved them.

Pearl was much colder. She glared at you anytime she caught you interacting with Rose. You decided that she was just very protective of Rose and cared deeply for her. Rose spoke of Pearl often and you could tell she was just as smitten.

Then there was one more that you met soon enough. Bismuth. Boy did you love Bismuth. She was amazing, and hilarious (oh you could never get enough of her puns.) She and Biggs soon became best friends and you often saw her hanging out in yours and Biggs’s room.

Crazy Lace and Snowflake loved the new gems just as much as yourself and Biggs and it felt like your family had just gotten bigger. Having nine older sisters with awesome powers and weapons felt amazing.

The best part was getting upgrades from Bismuth. Your pistol could now expand into a sniper rifle and your rapier was much lighter and easier to maneuver. Crazy lace’s axe was now a double with a spear tip and she loved it almost more than she loved herself. Snowflake’s daggers were much sharper after some much needed maintenance and now had a way to attach strings Bismuth had developed to pull them back if she so desired. Biggs heaved a sturdy scythe with a now doubled length and a pike on the end of it. Her favorite part was the sandy paintjob that reminded her of the canyon her kindergarten had been in. While it brought memories of being put into service of Homeworld, she also would never be able to be here in the temple, fighting for a worthy cause without being created in that hell hole.

Things had never been better.

 

Just as in life, when you reached the peak of your happiness or the peak of the roller coaster, there is only one way to go: down.

Things were going great, you even had the upper hand on Homeworld at the moment, but then you lost Bismuth. Rose told everyone she’d been shattered in a nearby battle. Morale was way down and no one could seem to get out if this slump. Soon after, an ambush on the temple took everyone by surprise. It came in the middle of the night. Biggs practically ripped you out of bed and grabbed your weapons for you. You were still groggy as she thrusted your pistol and rapier into your hands and pulled you out the door. You stumbled at the sound of weapons clashing and looked around to see sand and ocean water flying in every direction. Gems battled gems. One stood out to you. A tall, huge jasper stood on the ramp of a homeworld ship glaring out at the battlefield from behind her mountainous long white hair. She was probably looking for Rose, since your leader was nowhere to be found. This jasper looked different. So tall and muscular with her gem sticking out where her nose would be. You couldn’t help but glance at the short and stocky, but still much taller than you, Biggs Jasper as she tried to pull you away from the fighting.

Finally, your mind registered to cock your gun and begin shooting until Biggs shook her head. “These guys are outta your league,” she mumbled in a motherly tone. “You need to get outta here. Somewhere safe.” She glanced at the warp pad and raced towards it.

You noticed the jasper on the ship start moving, but she was on you before you could tell Biggs. Watching a jasper vs. jasper battle baffled you. Biggs kept up with the Homeworld gem fantastically, as if she’d been made for this battle. Her more brown and sandy skin color somehow looked brighter in the glow of her gem than the other, orange and scarlet jasper.

You found yourself gawking too long and the Homeworld jasper began aiming for you. Her helmet came so close to hitting your head before Biggs launched herself in the way. You stood motionless as her physical form disappeared in a cloud of smoke and it was all you could do to catch her falling gem.

“You’ll do nicely,” the Homeworld jasper said in a gravely, commanding tone as she grabbed you by your waist with only one hand and swung you onto her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“No!” you cried out, clutching to Biggs’s gem with tears in your eyes. You kicked and hit her, but it had no effect on the gem.

You just barely had enough time to catch Snowflake loose her physical form and her gem get trampled by some Homeworld amethyst. “Snow!” you cried out desperately, voice cracking at the sight. “Get her to Rose! Snow’s down!” But it was too late, everyone was too busy to notice your screams.

Except for Crazy Lace.

But when your eyes locked with hers you knew you’d lose her too if she tried to take on this Jasper. Tears pricked at your eyes as you noticed her racing towards you. You raised your hand and threw Biggs’s gem to her. “Take care of yourself,” you screamed, but she only looked at you in confusion and then Biggs’s gem in her hands. You waved as you were hauled onto the darkness of the Homeworld ship. Then you felt something hit your head and you were out.

 

Biggs was a mess since you’d been abducted. She blamed herself. She rarely ever even left her room anymore. She blamed herself for you. She blamed herself for Snowflake. Everything was falling apart.

She and Crazy Lace were all that was left of the Quartztet. They both were much more withdrawn than usual.

“I’m worried about them,” Rose told Pearl and Garnet one night, sitting outside of the temple and watching the beach. “I miss the human and Snowflake as well, but it’s been months now.”

“They were much closer than we were to our lost soldiers,” Garnet said quietly. “I should have seen this happening. But I didn’t.” She’d never say it, but she blamed herself as well.

Pearl remained silent. She’d been much less talkative lately. Perhaps if she’d been more friendly with the human this wouldn’t have happened. She blamed herself too.

Rose blamed herself for anything that ever went wrong, including this. Many gems had been lost to this war she’d started. Either fighting for or against her, there was no bringing them back. It was too late to turn back now, though. She was too far in to surrender now.

 


	2. Stage 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life with Jasper.

The ship traveled so slowly to your cage, as Jasper called it. You spent most of your time in your cell, a bare metal room with a force field in front. You had an open bathroom just like a prison and a small table to your right and a bed to your left. You had three meals a day and once a day, you were allowed to explore the ship with Jasper by your side to keep watch. This was was your daily exercise. This had been relatively unchanging for the first month you were on board. By the second month, you had begun talking to Jasper, trying to convince her to spare you… or at least figure out where you’re going.

You had one hour each day with her, so you made the most of it.

“How much longer until we get there?” you asked.

“Too long,” she answered.

“Where are we going?” Was your question the next day.

“Somewhere far, far away where I can leave you and never see you again.”

“Why did you take me? Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

“Because you’re not worth the effort.”

_That_ comment had stuck with you. You stopped talking as much, almost as if she’d killed off any hope of getting back to Earth.

One day, she didn’t come for you. Instead, you walked with an amethyst gem.

“So do you know where we’re going?” you asked her cautiously. Maybe she would tell you more than Jasper would.

She shrugged nonchalantly as if she didn’t care too much. “Some place Pink Diamond keeps her humans. She likes you guys a lot for some reason. I think it’s like a zoo or something.”

You almost fell over at the thought. Humans kept in cages like rabid animals in a circus and paraded around for gem entertainment. You clutched your stomach in an attempt to keep the contents inside.

“Can we please go back to my room? I don’t feel good,” you told her, using a wall to support yourself.

“Humans, so weak,” she grumbled under her breath, yanking your arm so you could lean on her. The walk was very short, but the silence and your nausea made it feel like it took a million years.

Finally, you made it back and instantly curled up on your cot. The gate went back up and the amethyst left. Only once she was gone were you willing to break down. You hadn’t cried since your first night here, mourning your loss of Snowflake and the Earth. This was perhaps far overdue.

You don’t know how long it took for you to fall asleep, but you were plagued with nightmares of being treated like a wild animal, small cages, and gross food. Jasper was the source of these, always laughing at you from the other side of the bars, poking you with a sharp stick just to annoy you. You lashed out and reached through the bars to try and get a hold on her and she only took a step back to laugh louder.

You woke up to the sound of her voice, ironically enough.

“Human, wake up. Human!”

You sat there, staring at the wall as you refused to turn to look at her. She cursed under her breath before opening the gate and walking over to shake her awake. You only scooted away from her touch. She growled and reached out to grab you. You immediately screamed and she let go, huffing. You knew she wouldn’t hurt you yet. She needed you alive for the zoo.

“Human, I was notified you are sick. What is it?” she asked after a moment of calming herself down.

“You. You are what makes me sick.” You explained venomously, sitting up so you could glare at her. “You Homeworld gems think you can come to a new planet and do whatever the hell you want to it and its inhabitants. You don’t think of the consequences. You lock us up like wild animals and that makes me sick. We can think freely, build, and create. I won’t sit pretty and do tricks for you if that’s what you think is going to happen. I’d rather die than do anything for you.”

After your little rant, you lay back down and curl up, hugging your knees to your chest while you glare at the wall.

“You need to eat,” she said simply for lack of a better response.

You laughed at her as she’d laughed at you in your dream. Loud and obnoxious. “I’d rather die…” you told yourself quietly.

“Human.

“Human…

“Human!”

“ _I have a name, dammit_!” You screamed in anger. Almost two months without hearing your name and you were beginning to wonder just who the hell you were.

“Then what is it?” She yelled back, just as intense as you.

You sat up, wanting her to see the anger on your face and tired of yelling at the wall. It had done nothing to you. Jasper, on the other hand, had ruined your life. However, seeing her in all her anger, you lost your voice. “[Y/N],” you told her with a small crack in your voice. You repeated yourself as if to solidify you were still this person. But you weren’t. [Y/N] had died when Jasper grabbed them.

“I like human better,” she told you with a smirk. Upon receiving no response, she frowned. “One more month until we arrive. You eat, do your exercise, and wait until then. You’ll never have to see me again.”

“Good riddance,” you spat as she left your tray on the table. You had no intentions of eating it though. You’d probably be unable to keep it down anyways.

A few days went by like this. Jasper would come by and leave a tray of food, taking the still full one from the previous day. She’d try to get you up to exercise. You’d snap at her or ignore her. She’d just leave you alone until the next day.

Finally, she confronted you. “[Y/N], or whatever the hell you call yourself, I’m sick of your crap. You’re going to eat the food and come for a walk this instant.” She almost sounded like your mother and that only made you want to listen to her even less, as if that were even possible. You just stared in silent defiance.

She grinned and came over, pushing you down on the bed. You tried to get up, but she easily held you down with only one hand. You struggled until something new came into view. “This is not gonna taste good, but it’s all the nutrients your human body needs to survive. You’re going to drink this, or I’ll make you.”

“I dare you,” you taunted.

In a flash, your hands were still pinned and she was pouring the gunk into your mouth she held open. You planned to spit it out, but once she was done, she pinched your nose making it impossible to do more than gag the slime down your throat. One you’d swallowed, she let go and got off of you with a smirk.

“I like dares,” she said simply before grabbing your arm roughly and pulling you to your feet.

The disorienting sensation of being force fed and not having moved much in the past few days left you stiff and uncomfortable moving around. You were beginning to feel the consequences of your stubbornness, but that didn’t mean you were about to give in. You went dead in her arms as she dragged you out the gate.

“Human, stand up,” she commanded.

“You can’t make me,” you spouted like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

She merely dragged you off as if you were as light as a feather to a new room you hadn’t seen. It was bare aside from a single machine that looked frustratingly familiar to a human treadmill.

“You wouldn’t,” you let out a frustrated grumble as you try to get away. She simply kept a tight grip on your arm until you were by the machine. She placed you down on it and made sure your hands grasped the bars on either side so she could fasten them down.

“I most certainly will,” she replied smugly. Her large hands grasped a tech pad of some sort and she punched in a button and you felt yourself being dragged back. Grudgingly, you begin walking to keep from hurting yourself. Jasper looked rather pleased with herself. “You’re welcome for the surprise I’ve been working on, human. Now you’ll be nice and healthy for the zoo.”

You sat stewing for a moment before you spat at her, a nice wet clump landing right on her gem. She looked more annoyed than anything as she wiped it off. “You can stay here for an hour. I’ll be back and maybe you’ll have had an attitude change, _[Y/N]_.”

You watched her leave and slowly began to be more comfortable walking on the device. You were still very sore though. Your legs and back ached from laying around with no effort at all. Maybe you should have been moving when she wasn’t around, at least.

The time alone gave you time to think of stuff you’d been pushing away. Images of your family back on earth. Wondering what happened to them. Memories of Snowflake danced through your head making it hard to breathe or see as tears threatened to fall. Biggs and Crazy Lace adjusting to the loss of Snow and yourself almost broke you. What actually made you break down sobbing was your uncertain future.

Thoughts of being locked up and caged like your present situation plagued your mind. You suddenly caught yourself swooning and nauseous. What kind of sick gem was this Pink Diamond to try and contain humans like this. Humans were sentient beings capable of thought and evolution. So why the hell did she think she was so much better than them? Given a few more decades, humanity might be on par technology wise with Homeworld.

You had to will yourself to keep moving and not end up falling and hurting yourself.

Jasper sighed after she left you alone to walk in the room. Of every other human she’d contained, you were by far the most resilient and it pissed her off that she was beginning to respect your resolve. At least you knew what you wanted and what you didn't. Most gems were wishy washy and ready to switch sides depending on who had the upper hand. You were loyal, and loyalty was to be respected.

Honestly most humans gave up within the first week. But not you. Finding out your destination had only hardened your resolve and something about that made her proud. If only they made gems more like you.

As she caught herself in her thoughts of you, she punched a wall. Why she felt like this for such an inferior being baffled her and angered her to no end. She couldn’t figure out where or when these feelings had emerged. Probably when you went on your rant about how terrible she was. No human (or even gem) had ever spoken to her that way before.

She had to snap herself out of her thoughts again. She’d been thinking of you more often lately. She worried for your health as you refused to move or eat. Much about humans seemed...strange.

The necessity to consume and expel nutrients. Sleeping and exercising being mandatory. All of it took her a while to figure out, but the one thing that confounded her was how to improve morale. The humans at the zoo were little more than mindless animals locked up unless they were doing a daily routine. Humans even needed an atmosphere in order to breathe. They were “choosened” to create new life and continue the existence of human life beyond the colonization of the earth. 

As much as she hated it, Jasper was beginning to see why Pink Diamond loved humans so much.

 

When Jasper returned to find the human slumped over the edge of the bar, feet dragged and scraped by the treadmill, she was more than concerned. She immediately shut the device off and ripped the human away from the machine.

“[Y/N]? [Y/N]!” Jasper cried out. When the human didn’t respond, she grew more nervous. “Human!”

The lack of a response worried Jasper more. “Peridot! I need Peridot!”

A tall and lanky peridot appeared in the doorway. She extended a dark lime green hand to the machine and it began morphing into a gurney of sorts. Once the transformation was complete, she sighed and pulled up a tech pad similar to the version Jasper had used before.

“Get it to the med bay,” She said simply, an eerie green limb resembling a finger that even matched her skin tone. This appendage dragged through her pine green hair and exposed a triangular gem situated at the base of the back of her neck.

Jasper wanted nothing more than to rip that gem right off of her and throw it out into space. “[Y/N] is not an _it_ ,” she hissed out before she even knew what she was saying.

Peridot looked at her over a pair of glasses that gave her readings over the ship’s diagnostics. “You gave it a name, how cute. Would you like me to stop referring to our Diamond as a diamond? Or myself as a peridot? _It’s_ a human. Simply a tool to entertain our Diamond.”

At her monotonous voice, Jasper ground her teeth, but said no more. Jasper remembered thinking the same way about humans. So why was this one so different. Jasper ground her teeth in anger the entire way to the med bay where sick humans were taken care of. Dead humans were also disposed of here, but Jasper didn’t want to think of that now.

Peridot worked on the human for what felt like hours, but it could only have been about a half an hour. She hummed and had her flying appendages comb through her long, dark hair as they did when she was bothered, Jasper had noticed. Human anatomy baffled many gems and Peridot was still new to the med bay. She felt much more comfortable around cold, hard machines than squishy, fragile organic life.

Why did humans have to be so much more fragile than gems? All it took was too long of a fall or a blow to the head and they were gone forever like a shattered gem. But their physical form didn’t leave. It stayed, oozing liquids and creating a terrible stench. She did not want to see you reduced to such a state.

“Diagnosis confirmed. It’s just as I thought: over exhaustion. Next time, when exercising the human, please keep a closer eye on it.”

Peridot’s words stung. The human would be fine had Jasper simply stayed in the room with them instead of leaving to try and sort out her selfish emotions. “Understood.”

 

Jasper sat at the edge of your bed as you slept. An IV lead fluids into your arm. Peridot said it would help rehydrate you. She didn’t understand how, but Peridot knew a lot more about humans than she did, so Jasper trusted her.

When you stirred it was hard for her to stifle her sigh of relief.

The first thing you noted was your legs and feet felt torn up just like when you trained with Biggs barefoot in the forest and you accidentally fell into a patch of seaglass.. You hurt too badly to make it back to camp so she carried you and was there when you woke up. You even felt her presence now as she sat on the edge of your makeshift bed. You reached out to grab a meaty arm near the same thickness of Biggs’.

“Biggs?” you mumbled quietly, trying to pull her down for a hug.

When she didn’t move, you knew something was wrong. “Biggs?” you questioned once more. Without another response, you grew worried and opened your eyes, struggling to sit up. The IV in your arm caught you by surprise as you stared down at it. Then you looked up and came face to face with Jasper’s cold golden eyes and it felt like a stone dropped into the pit of your stomach. Everything from the past month-- or was it two? You couldn’t keep track of time anymore --came flooding back to you.

She noticed your panic and backed away to give you some space. “You had...what did Peridot call it? Exhaust?”

“Exhaustion,” you corrected her stiffly with a hoarse throat that came with trying not to cry at all of the memories hitting you like a truck once you remembered where you were.

“What is a… Biggs?”

“My friend that you poofed,” you told her bitterly, the memory stinging even now. Was she okay? How was she and Crazy Lace coping?

“Oh.”

The fact that all Jasper could say was a simple “ _oh_ ” pissed you off exponentially.

“She was my best friend. And now I’ll never see her again. Snowflake was also shattered in your ambush.” You explained calmly but with a certain coldness to your tone. "And all you can say is 'Oh.'"

Your calmness almost scared her. She could handle your outbursts of anger. The screaming and kicking was manageable. But this? She just didn’t know what to do.

“If you’re looking for an apology, you won’t get one.” You let out a bitter laugh and she felt what she could only describe as shattered, like her entire being just fell apart. “I am doing my job and proving myself loyal to my leader. I’m sure you can find respect in that.”

“There’s no respect in enslaving a race. Many humans learned that the hard way a few centuries ago,” was your curt reply.

“No matter what, there is respect in loyalty and even though your species is so much more...fragile than mine, I can find respect in your loyalty to the Crystal Gems and your friends. I can also find respect in your resilience and inability to give up.”

All anger and animosity fled from you at those words and you just felt weak as you reached for your pillow on the bed to hold tight, almost able to imagine you were giving a family member a hug.

“Then let me go home.”

That shattering feeling hit again, but more harshly from before. Jasper felt the entire ship shatter, but then she realized it wasn’t her emotions, but a physical act. The human- [Y/N], looked terrified.

“I’ll find out what’s happening.” Jasper left quickly, ensuring you were secure before her departure.

You couldn’t help but hope Crazy Lace and Biggs had come to your rescue.

 

“Space debris? This much damage was the result of space debris?” Jasper glared at Peridot who nervously looked down at her feet. Her hair was tied into a bun to keep it out of her face when she went to check damages. The extent was still unknown, but it wasn’t good.

“Yes, Jasper,” she mumbled, very fearful of the large quartz that could no doubt shatter her in an instant. When Jasper was angry, even a confident gem like Peridot couldn’t meet Jasper’s gaze. “Damages could take at least one human month to repair before we are able to resume transit to Pink Diamond’s Zoo.”

Jasper hit a wall without much care for the already falling apart ship. “We can’t afford to wait that long! Do we even have enough supplies for the human on board for an extra month?”

“We’ll we don’t have a choice in the matter. We are stuck here until repairs are complete. Also, there is some less tasteful supplies for the human in case of an emergency. That should cover the last two weeks of the trip.”

“Fine, just hurry up and get to work!” Jasper barked out, watching the green gem scramble away to begin repairs.

Jasper let out a low groan. Another month of these frustrating feelings and being stuck with the human. She couldn’t take much more of this.

 

You waited for hours, eventually falling asleep in your boredom. You weren’t out long since it didn’t take much more than the feeling of someone watching to wake you. Slowly blinking away the restless sleep, you saw an orange cheeto in front of you. After a moment of confusion, you rubbed at your eyes and once your vision cleared, you saw Jasper. You bit back a laugh at mistaking her for a cheeto.

“[Y/N], are you awake?”

You hummed in confirmation before sitting up and stretching out. The satisfying sound of your shoulders and spine popping relaxed you as you laid against the wall by our bed. “So what was that earthqua- shipquake?”

“About that,” Jasper ran her hands through her hair with a frustrated expression. She had been doing that a lot lately, you noticed. You’d never know this, but she picked up the habit from Peridot recently. “The ship was damaged by some debris that was under our sensors. We’ve added at least another month to our trip. Maybe more if anything else happens.”

You took the news surprisingly well, with just a huff of breath and a shrug. There was nothing to be done and it gave you more time. It also gave the gems more time to save you. They had to be trying to get you back, right? Biggs was already on the trail and ready to come busting in to save you.

“There isn’t exactly enough food for you either, but we have this stuff with all the nutrients you need.” At the dumbfounded look on your face, she continued. It’s not the best tasting stuff, but I figured if we could go ahead and space meals with it, you wouldn’t have to eat those bars every day for a solid two weeks.”

You didn’t even want to taste it, but you needed to keep your strength up, so you gave a sad nod.

“Just make sure to eat and exercise and you shouldn't have to have any more trips to the med bay either, you really-” Jasper cut herself short before she could finish her thought. Bu she didn’t even know what the rest of the thought was.  _ You really scared me. You really were an idiot. _ How would she have ended that sentence? There were a million options.

“So we’re stuck here for another month? I may just lose my mind. Is this what it’s going to be like on the zoo?” Upon receiving a nod from Jasper, you plopped down dramatically back down on your bed.

“What if during this month, you...helped me?”

You howled out a bitter laugh. “Why would I help you? I hate you. You ruined my life.”

“To give a better one to the people already at the zoo.”

_ That _ hit you hard. How many people were locked up like you day in and day out. You hated the idea of working with the cheeto puff, but you could show her a way to keep the humans happy and well until the Crystal Gems could come to the rescue. You glared at her as you thought, bouncing around ideas before you gave a curt nod. “Fine. I’ll help you. But on one condition: Afterwards, you send me home.”

“I can’t do that. The best I can do is hear you out and apply your ideas to the facility. Maybe get you some special treatment up there.” She looked angry with herself, but you couldn’t be sure what was going on in her head. “Let’s start talking about it next week, today’s been rough and you need rest otherwise you might end up in the med bay again.”

You wanted to protest, but the tiredness you still felt from collapsing earlier remained and your legs hurt. All you wanted was to dream and forget this living nightmare. Reluctantly, you laid down and cuddled up to your pillow while trying to imagine you were hugging onto the stocky Biggs.

 

A week passed by with you mostly sleeping away, but your daily walks with Jasper resumed just as they had before things went bad. The bars she gave you every few days to supplement your diet really did taste bad. Like some super salty jerky with a hint of bittersweetness. But Jasper always gave you plenty of water to help choke it down. 

After making a full recovery, you began working with her in a new room you’d yet to explore. It was an orange-ish room with a desk in the center. Two chairs are set up on either side and the desk itself is blank except for one of the high tech iPads.

Jasper took a seat in the chair farthest from the door, so you took the only other option. “I’m about to show you the layout for the zoo. Please wait until I’m done to overreact.”

The fact that she knew you were going to overreact meant she realized the zoo was not a good place for humans. You wondered when this changed had come about. Was it you that changed her mind as to how humans should be handled? Deep down you had a feeling it was you. You hated to admit it, but the thought made your chest fill with pride.

As the plans for the zoo came up, your pride deflated like a balloon. You were going here? To this disgusting place? It was less like a zoo and more like a prison. Your preconceived thoughts of being locked up like an animal at a carnival wasn’t too far off.

Jasper begins explaining in her gruff voice and you begin to feel nauseous as she pulls up different aspects of the zoo for you to see. It’s a full ring. One quarter of it is used for storage and gem housing, another eighth is for the ship’s control centers, and the rest is solely for the storage of humans. The human cells were similar to yours. There were family cells in which humans were forced to breed and produce new offspring for the next generation. Conditions were stable, but hardly livable. The humans had low morale and spirits, they always seemed sad and mopey. Pink Diamond didn’t like their conditions, but couldn’t think of any better options.

You sat in stunned silence for a long time while Jasper just stared at you, looking for any sort of reaction. She didn’t know how to gauge where your head was at from your blank stare a the facility being projected in front of you.

“The empty space in the middle of the ring…” you thought out loud, though it was more of a mumble. Jasper leaned forward to be able to hear you better. “...create a simulation of earth. Bring plants and animals. Give humans some semblance of freedom and the ability to coexist together rather than live in isolation until a stranger is pushed into your room and you have to...have to…” your train of thought fell apart and you covered your face so Jasper wouldn’t see your tears. You hunched over in the chair to try and make yourself as small as possible. These poor humans. If only you could liberate them, but what good were you against an entire Homeworld base when you were so alone and defenseless.

“Human? [Y/N]. What’s wrong?”

You looked up at a worried Jasper in surprise. At this angle and with her expression...she almost looked like Biggs. This only spurred on more tears and you found it hard to keep yourself from falling over. Two hands, each almost as big as your head, wrapped around your shoulders to help keep you steady as you sobbed uncontrollably for the lost souls of earth. You and these people were doomed to be forgotten by time and left to rot in the middle of nowhere and so far away from home.

It hurt more when it hit you that Biggs and Crazy Lace had already forgotten about you. They weren’t looking for one lost human. They had more than enough to deal with on the battlefront.

Just when you’d cried as much as you could, you pried Jasper’s hands off and leaned back in the chair to try to get back on track with what you’d come here to do.

“Nope, you’re gonna go lay down and we’ll get back to this tomorrow. We’ve got the rest of the trip to work on this.”

 

True to her word, you worked hard for the rest of the trip, determined to make life bearable for the humans trapped on the zoo. For the next few weeks, you had come up with designs for a habitat for your fellow man. It was honestly a paradise. Plenty of food, an open habitat with plants and animals and running water. No more isolation. A much more controlled choosening ceremony that would result from time spent with the human you were choosened for.

“Jasper?” You asked quietly one day when going over the new and improved choosening ceremony.

“Yeah?” she replied curtly while making notes on her tablet.

“Will I have to be choosened?”

She hummed and put her tablet down. “Not if you don’t want to; no. You are helping me with this and are a great asset, so I’ll do what I can to make life more comfortable for you especially.” The look she gave you when she said that made your chest hurt. You were getting too comfortable here, even now being able to wander the ship freely.

“You know, when we get there, I’ll have to run these designs by Pink Diamond. Would you like to meet her?”

Jasper pulled you from your thoughts with her out of the blue comment. You? Meet a Diamond? Rose would be laughing right now if she’d heard this. How many could say they got to meet her personally. Despite your fear of the Diamonds, you felt excitement course through your veins at the idea of meeting her.

Jasper laughed at your reaction, nodding hard and practically jumping in your seat. “Yeah, yeah, just go rest up. Tomorrow we’ll start working on a schedule for the humans.” Jasper waved her hand in a shooing motion to dismiss you, and you left the room to return to your room, though the barrier was never up anymore.

On your way, you were interrupted by something hitting your chest and pushing you up against the nearby wall. You looked up to see the ship’s Peridot, who was in charge of all engineering issues as well as the med bay on the ship, hovering over you. She always hated you.

“So I overheard your little chat with Jasper.”

“Which one?” you replied smugly. Peridots weren’t made for combat-- you had no reason to fear her.

“If you actually think a pathetic creature like yourself will ever get to bask in the presence of our Diamond, you have another thing coming. A gem of Her stature would never associate with the like of you.” Peridot practically growled out as her finger-like appendages combed through her dark hair in a way of soothing her passive anger. Her low tone was almost threatening and you found yourself wondering if she could actually hurt you. She  _ did _ have access to the med bay.

“It’s not like it’s a social visit,  _ Peri _ ,-” you almost smirked as you watched her cringe; she hated that nickname (which was why you used it)-“it’s business. I’m actually helping your Diamond, so you should be thanking me. I didn’t have to help find a solution to Her problem with the humans at the zoo lacking morale, but I did. Thus, She’ll be happier to see the lives She’s preserved thriving in a more natural habitat.”

“Like I’d ever thank a subspecies as low as yourself,” she gave a huff and hit a button on the pad attached to her hip. “Put _it_ in isolation,” Peridot said to the pad, and before you knew it, the amethyst assigned to keeping you out of certain areas was upon you and had you tossed over her shoulder.

You kicked and screamed out for Jasper, but Peridot only smiled and waved.

“Just stop struggling and this will be easier for the both of us,” Amethyst told you. You complied when you realized Jasper wasn’t coming to your rescue. 

Ironically, at that moment, she did come.

“What is going on here?” the familiarly commanding voice came to your ears.

“Jasper, help! Peridot’s sending me to isolation!” you shouted for the only gem that would actually care about your situation on this ship.

You caught the sight of Peridot trying to run away before Jasper grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. “[Y/N] is none of your concern, Peridot. Leave them alone or next time, your gem will be jettisoned into space. You are replaceable. This human is not.”

_Does Peri need some ice for that burn?_ , you wondered. _And did I hear Jasper correctly?_  Despite the vast number of humans on Earth, she said you were irreplaceable.

“Y-Yes, Jasper. I understand.” She sounded disheartened and if she hadn’t just tried to send you off to isolation, you’d almost feel sorry for her. After all, isolation for gems was them dangling outside of the ship for a few days and you’d rather keep oxygen in your lungs.

Peridot scampered away and Amethyst dropped you before boredly apologizing to Jasper and running off to do whatever amethysts do.

“Are you alright?” Jasper asked as she picked you up from where Amethyst dropped you. You nodded and took a deep breath, recovering from the fact that you’d almost died a very uncomfortable death. “Listen, we’re gonna be there soon and Pink Diamond is currently at the zoo, so we’ll get to speak with her.”

“Should I really meet her? I mean, I am just a human.”

Jasper laughed at your downtrodden face. Peridot’s words had affected you more than you cared to admit, but Jasper’s laugh only made you feel worse.

“[Y/N], our Diamond spends time with the humans all the time. She loves them. She’ll love you too, I’m sure.” Jasper spoke to you comfortingly in a tone you didn’t realize she had. “As a matter of fact, I want you in charge of the new zoo’s construction. I’m going to have to get back to my work in human colection before the war ends and the Earth is converted into a colony.”

“I’ll do it. But I still don’t think you’re gonna beat the Crystal Gems,” you told Jasper smugly

“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night,” she laughed and hit your back (gently since last time she did it, you ended up in the med bay for two days.)

Of course, she didn’t know that actually helped you sleep at night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the main story. Next chapter will be a brief epilogue. Honestly, this started as a simple one shot and escalated and I'm very dissatisfied with it. Maybe sometime this summer I will revisit the story and rewrite it, but for now I'd like to move on and get back to working on Enough and doing actual one shots. I hope you guys enjoyed this story and I'll have the epilogue out in a week (hopefully).


	3. Afterwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of [Y/N], but perhaps he beginning of something else.

Time passed, as usual. You wished you could freeze it, but it caught up with you while it barely even fazed the gems. You met Pink Diamond and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t completely smitten. She was beautiful, and elegant, and charismatic. Her eyes lit up when she first met you, immediately realizing that you had more spunk than the zombie-esque humans present.

You tried to hate her, you really did. You struggled with it a lot, actually. You thought of everything she had done to the earth, but when her eyes shone at your designs for the zoo, you couldn’t help but smile with her. And hell, you didn’t even see the way your smile brought a similar one to Jasper’s face. Mostly since she hid it from you, not wanting to be revealed in a moment of weakness.

The months and months when Jasper was gone were lonely. Even Pink Diamond couldn’t be there all the time. You had a suite prepared and lived much more comfortably than the humans and often found yourself feeling guilty for it. But as construction of the new habitat came closer and closer to completion, the guilt faded and was replaced with pride at your accomplishments. You only wished the Quartztet was here to witness your accomplishment.

You reveled in the time you got with Jasper in between her arrivals and departures. You showed her around the construction and commented on the plants and seeds that she brought to be cultivated. Animals had been removed from the plan at the last minute due to threat of disease and contamination, but at least the majority of your designs were coming true. Your favorite part of the habitat was the waterfall for bathing. It was beautiful and the water was so clean you could see to the bottom of the pool.

Since it was finally finished, as soon as Jasper landed at the zoo, you dragged her over to the enclosure to see it. Her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped and you couldn’t believe your eyes at her reaction. “You wanna go swim in it?” you asked. Before even giving you a reply, she jumped right in. You laughed at the splash she made and sat down on the edge of the pool with your feet dipped in, just enjoying watching a rare moment of Jasper cutting loose.

The zoo was a success. Other than the waterfall, your favorite part of the whole ordeal was watching the humans being integrated into the habitat. It had taken years, but they were finished and the humans already loved it. They took to the food and schedule well. The annual choosening went fantastically. Everything was great. And then it wasn’t. As per usual, something had to go wrong. Something huge.

Pink Diamond was _shattered_. Just like that: gone. You found out from Jasper that the war had been lost and that Rose had killed Pink Diamond. You wished you could say you were happy, but you weren't. Suddenly Rose Quartzes started disappearing from the zoo staff and you had half a mind as to what had happened to them, but you never said anything about it. You didn’t know what it was, and neither did Jasper, but apparently the Diamonds had some big plan to retaliate, but you never really found out what it was or what the result was.

Jasper was moved to serve under Yellow Diamond and her visits became fewer and fewer at a time until one day, she just stopped coming to visit. Blue Diamond took over the zoo. You were forgotten about, mostly. Holly Blue mostly ignored you, and you were fine with that.

After a few years you decided you weren't getting younger and chose a friendly human from the enclosure to be with. You both had a lovely child and when you were old and gray, you told them, “If we ever make it back to earth, I need Biggs and the others to know I was fine. I survived and I made some semblance of a life for myself.” Your child nodded in understanding. “Pass that along to your children and tell them to pass it on to their children until we make it back to earth. We will, one day.” A hopeful and childish smile passed over your lips as if you’d just told a secret. And so you lived out your final days in relative comfort, mind every so often wandering to the gem that caused all of this. Jasper.

 

Several centuries, millenia? It was difficult to tell time in the zoo. The humans made their way back to earth with the help of the newest Crystal Gem, Jasper. The very same Jasper that captured the human responsible for the zoo enclosure all those years ago. A descendant staggered up to the temple and saw the Crystal Gems face to face. He smiled. “I’m Saffron and [Y/N] wanted everyone to know they were fine,” he explained, feeling a sense of comfort at the fact that he’d finally managed to pass on the message that had traveled through generations.

An uncorrupted Biggs Jasper and Crazy Lace Agate found themselves crying at the name they hadn’t heard in so long. Garnet didn’t even see this coming. Pearl covered her mouth in shock. Meanwhile, Steven and Amethyst just stood to the side in confusion, unable to understand the history of that name.

Later, they’d hear the story of the human that saved the zoo from living lives of loneliness and isolation. And of how that human even swayed Jasper’s heart before she was even a Crystal Gem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is how a planned one shot escalates into 25 paged work. I don't even think Enough is at 25 pages yet. Anyways, maybe if I ever get past book on of Enough, I'll continue with a prequel about the Quartztet and how they came together or a sequel about Saffron, the Crystal Gems, and the new Quartztet. Which would y'all rather read? Let me know in the comments and thank you for reading.


End file.
